Meet the investment banking legend behind the Melbourne Cup favourite
Rich Ricci, owner of short-priced Melbourne Cup favourite Vauban, warns value investors away from backing his horse in Tuesday’s race.
“You’d want your value somewhere else. But if you are a quality investor and looking for a dividend, you’d back him,” he tells The Australian Financial Review with a grin.
Rich Ricci, owner of Vauban is seen after the barrier draw of The Melbourne Cup during Derby Day at Flemington Racecourse on Saturday. Getty Images
Ricci should know. The American-born, London-based owner is most famous for helping to take the Barclays investment bank from a minnow to a major player, and now runs London broking and advisory firm Panmure Gordon.
It’s the second time Ricci has had a runner in the Cup and his trip to Melbourne is providing some respite from the volatility on global markets.
“Markets have been so challenging – post Brexit, we’ve got wars everywhere, the world’s a very challenging place. This is just a nice relief from that for a few days. We’re still looking after our clients, of course, with the team back at home, but it is a nice relief.”
Ricci certainly stands out in the mounting yard at Flemington, where the barrier draw for the Cup has just been held on Saturday evening. Where investment bankers the world over tend to favour dark suits and steer clear of microphones and cameras, he is dressed in black morning suit, pink waistcoat and designer sunglasses. A mullet haircut streams out from beneath his top hat.
That flamboyance has got Ricci in trouble from time to time. He jokingly named a horse Fatcatinthehat in 2013, two years after The Independent headlined a profile of him and his racing interests, “Who’s the fat cat in the hat?”
But the gag backfired when politicians and the media
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